Config:
Motherboard: Biostar TA790GXB A2+
CPU: AMD Athlon FX-62 x64 Dual core 2.8GHz
RAM: PQi 4GB
Video: EVGA Nvidia GeForce 210 512MB HDMI
Storage: 3.2TB total:
- 2 2.5 laptop HDDs 250Gb each in RAID 0. Drives that I had stashed were 5200rpm and will be quite slow standalone, striped, on the other hand, will be both quiet and quick.
- 4 3.5 desktop HDDs 2x500GB, 750GB and 1TB mouted in 3U hot swappable backplane.
Accessories:
- 3 port external MOLEX connectors came very handy got mine a while ago from newegg for about $5.
- PSU power extension cord – a must have item, mine was built into the old case.

And so I started.

First of all -the aquarium itself – $30 at Walmart.

Quiet air pump – $14 Walmart. How can aquarium be without bubbles. As it turned out to be pump is not very quiet at all, but still usable.

Donor case.

Glued on/off and reset switches with activity lights under the top cover underneath feed door so it’ll stay hidden.

Gutted the case, leaving back wall, IO panel and side fan mount.

Further trimming it to fit and attaching an extension plate.

Back side.

Motherboard test fit.

Fits like a glove. All rough edges and indecencies will later be covered by a hood.

First dry run and windows installation.

Gutting the power supply. Exposing it delicious internals.

First fit inside aquarium.

It sat really, really tight.

So it was decided to get rig of a big, modular power supply and go with a tiny one that was left over from older microITX build.

Now, there’s much more room for oil circulation.

And gravel, and seaweed, and marbles and even a sunken castle!

Now, proceeding to the filler – Mineral Oil. Got it from ebay at ~$15 a gallon. Apart from it’s main use as an aquarium PC liquid – it’s used as a horse laxative as well.

All prepped and ready to be filled.

Topped off and running on the shelf.

Had to add some more oil later.

HDD drive cage on the side.

Bubbly.

Got two neon glow wires from ebay automotive section for $10. Look really awesome in dark.

So, there you have it!Two days labor, about $150 excluding computer parts and a whole lot of wow factor sitting on the shelf!
Besides that it’s a fully functional media center PC and a home file server.

Classic.

Grabbed this couple at the upper walkway – amazing cosplay!

A look at the cosplay staging area – so-called “Fountain”.

Another BRS.

And here is the greatest disappointment of the day! As I’ve been standing the queue to the latest Gurren Lagann movie – a fire alarm sounded and everyone was kicked out of the convention center.

Moments later fire brigades arrived deafening everybody with their sirens.

As it turned out to be there was no fire at all. Just as I assumed some imbecile pulled fire alarm inside the building. Hate you!

After lunch and brief rest back on track.

Much more Pedobears this year.

Tiny photo set of the friends of mine.

Great Asuka cosplay. Was taking pictures over the shoulder of the other photographer.

Great prop.

Ar-r-r mate-eh!

Was playing Ninety Nine Nights or N3 on Xbox360. And here’s one amazing cosplay of the main heroine – Imphy.

That was round two – bloke was holding two other blokes on this shoulders – amazing strength, indeed!

And that was it – utterly ming boggling 3 days at Baltimore! Looking forward for the next year!

Haruhi to Gekisou.

“Mid” atrium, so I call it. For some particular reason blokes were simply pointing at each other for quite a while. Hadn’t had a slightest idea what for, still joined them.

On my way to the main cosplay staging area – “the Fountain” noticed a crowd gathering around friends of mine who were cosplaying characters From Metal Gear Solid.

RQ from Danny

Artist alley with auction area on the left. Still blame myself for not knowing the ropes of the auction as there were some delightful pieces that I’ve missed on.

End of day one, going back to the hotel. Some random tram, thinking of how long I hadn’t ridden one of these.
Capitol of Belarus, where I’m from, has trams, Do remember myself enjoy taking them.

Day two, early morning. Going towards convention centre.

Awesome prop.

Mind boggling Black Rock Shooter cosplay.

BR Cannon alone, astonishing.

Codos, blokes! Thumbs UP!

Ah! A familiar face, I mean helmet, it is!?

Mio Akiyama, great cosplay, indeed.

Whole bunch of Code Geas cosplayers.

Little sister from Bioshock, Impressive makeup and prop.

Best Haruhi Suzumiya cosplay I’ve ever seem, full stop! (or as American blokes say – period!)

Heavens! That scolding smile! I’m stunned!

Axe cop from the Internet comic series.

Classic!

And notice Kenny isn’t dead, yet.

Dealer’s room. Just had to take a series of shots of this bloke.



Peanut butter jelly time! Rockit!

Awesome prop!

Cirno! Watashi no baka!

Hilarious, mate! Surely is!

A single Elfen Lied cosplay spotted.

As far as I noticed Gurren Langan cosplay was dominating this year.

Princess Peach.

As usual AmiAmi as it’s best – received a package safe and sound two days after shipping notice.

Point blank: GSC did a great job making this figure, now it takes central stage on my desk.
Couple of so called “theatrical” photos:

And so it went, three days non-stop fun.
Like I was mentioning in my older posts I’m very much into photography. Not professional at all, but rather just for fun.
Enjoy… Otacon 2010 from the inside of the iron shell.

Somewhere on the street: Homies will soon realize that these chicks shouldn’t be picked on.

Byson – epic.

Game room.

Leeloo take one.

And take two.

Hetalia, plenty of it.

Great One Piece cosplay.

Purinni to Raspberyll, kawaii!!!

Saishuu Heiki Kanojo – My Girfriend is a Prfect Weapon. See this cosplay for the second time, awesome!

Tenshi-chan

Yotsuba! Utterly amazing!

Now moving to the Dealer’s Room.
First to spot is one of the largest booths out there – Aniplex. with huge flat screen rolling K-On! and Suzumiya Haruhi no Chokuretsu, Gurren Lagan the movie and other titles.
Now i have to pause here and go over my ravings against Animeplex’s releases and dubbed anime all together.
Passing by their booth I almost had a stroke listening to the lines from Suzumiya Haruhi no Chokuretsu, yes they were dubbed and they were absolutely and utterly atrocious, horrid, despicably mutilated and plainly repulsive.

Can’t deny that English language speakers shall never be able to reproduce intonation, tone and force of native Japanese dialogues.
In my opinion, if one can’t so why even try.
Second hart attack happened two days later. Sunday I was again passing by their booth, when I saw a crowd around that exact booth.
As it turned out to be – some blokes were doing Hare Hare Yukai dance. Guess what, the song was dubbed as well!!! Come on! Now I feel like I just gulped a giant steamy “Cup of Rage”. People this is even worse than plain dub! Instead of Aya Hirano’s “yume, yume – suki deshou”, speakers were blasting “dreams, dreams – suki deshou” with southern accent!
That was it. I had had it. Quickly snapped a picture and swiftly retreated suppressing a heavy urge to vomit.

One and only worthy Bakemonogatari cosplay that I spotted.

Hanekawa Tsubasa \ Swarineko. Great cosplay. love it.

Plenty of Pedobears this year, this one got PWND.

Our very own, American Itabasu.
To clarify Itabasu – is a notion describing anime-themed exterior of a bus. Essentially a derivation from Japanese “itasha” (Jap. Romaji) which literally means painmobile – an anime themed car. Peculiar fact: first syllable “ita” <- "itai" – painful.

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, as ever popular.

Saber, my admirations are true.

Warning!!! Explicit content! 18+ only!!!

Teaser Trailer:

Trailer #2:

*According to: Associated Press (LA)

Frankly saying the title itself wasn’t very promising.
Well, just another parody on G. Romero’s walking corpses, – I thought.
Boy, I was so bloody wrong!

Just another boring, regular day at high school.

Some bloke appears at the gates of the school banging his head at the bars.
Turned out to be a full fledged zombie.
That’s where the plot takes it’s spin.

Everything that’ll be going on after that could only be described as EPIC.

First one is made by Alter.


As it was expected – figure is just astonishingly detailed.

Box art.

The back of the box, portraying optional hairpiece with “nekomimi”.

The other side.

Now taking a closer look at the figurine itself. Being unwrapped from box casing and plastic looks absolutely stunning.
Being suspended mid-air on a clear stand, it literally radiates energy.

Facial expression and detail are absolutely marvelous.

Sawako sensei was damn right, Azusa looks even better with nekomimi.

Have to say kudos to a Alter’s sculptors, they made magnificent figure indeed.

Another rendition of Azunyan came from Good Smile Company as a Nendoroid.

Box art.

Famous, and utterly cute “nya-a” pose.

With her “Mutan”.

Rocking.

All, right! Now we are almost ready to start our rehearsal. Just waiting for Mugi-chan.

And that’s how Detolfs look now.

A closer look.

Blast it, I say! That was astonishingly fast!


And look what he brought me.